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March 6, 2013

Review: Thieves Kitchen-One For Sorrow, Two For Joy

From
as far back as 1999, when they first got together, the band, Thieves Kitchen
have been producing creative progressive music and to date, have produced 5
albums, starting in 2000 with Head
and now in 2013 with the newest release, One
For Sorrow, Two For Joy. In fact it has taken 5 years to release One For Sorrow, Two For Joy, the follow
up to the 2008 album, The Water Road.

Thieves
Kitchen are a 3 piece band comprising, Amy Darby (vocals), Phil Mercy (guitar),
Thomas Johnson (keyboards), who are joined by Brad Waissman (bass), Paul Malyon
(drums) and Anna Holmgren (flute) for
the latest release. One For Sorrow, Two
For Joy contains around 57 minutes of music spread over 7 tracks. The
shortest track on the album is the title track, track 1, and it runs for well
under a minute at 17 seconds, in comparison with the longest track , “Germander
Speedwell,” which runs the clock on until 14:32 minutes.

So,
the big question is “What have Thieves Kitchen come up with after 5 years?” - Well
let’s progress on into the review and find out. The band’s music is described
(by the band) as a blend of Canterbury, folk, fusion, symphonic and rock,
producing music as adventurous as it is familiar, as melodic as it is
intricate, with an Englishness to the sound and a Swedish flavor to its
texturing ultimately resulting in a unique sound. Listening to the album “One
For Sorrow, Two For Joy” makes me think a little of a more laid back, mellow Kaipa,
who also hail from Sweden.

Highlights
of this album for me, at the moment are, “Hypatia” (8:56), “A Fool’s Journey”
(8:19) and the long “Germander Speedwell” (14:32). Each track is a mesmerizing
concoction of slow/quick passages, superb keyboards/guitars and the voice of
Amy Darby.

“Hypatia”
has a very short flute passage as an introduction to the crystal clear vocals
of Amy Darby, and then the keyboards of Thomas Johnson appear as the track
continues to build up. Just after the 1:00 minute mark, there is a change in
the tempo and a superb passage of keyboard and guitar (Phil Mercy) over a very
rhythmic drum/bass engine. There is still an almost pastoral feel to the track,
prior to the guitar of Phil becoming more emphatic in the majestic passage
before the level falls to allow the drums and keyboards to merge the track into
the sublime flute passage and on past the 4:30 minute mark when the bass and
piano take the “up-front” mantle with the piano melody simply fantastic. A
superb guitar enters the fray around the 5:45 minute point and carries the
track along with the keyboards merging to boost the sound before a passage of
“pomp” preludes the return of those clear vocals and a return to the original
theme. The 8:00 minute mark sees the return of the earlier up-tempo passage
which then takes the track out. A stunning track which continues to sound even
better, the more times it is played.

Heavy
guitar riffing starts“A Fool’s Journey,”
before the entry of Amy’s voice, and continues behind the vocals with the
guitar starting to “soar” at points. Keyboards supplement this “heavy” sound as
the track progresses with the original theme until around the 3:00 minute
point. The keyboards then take on a more prominent role, while still behind the
vocals and the track drives along until the 4:15 minute mark when there is a
marked change in style and tempo. There is a great bass (Brad Waissman), drums
(Paul Malyon) and guitar passage before the flute, followed by a superb
synthesizer passage, before the sound falls again to allow a simple synth
melody to carry the track. Phil (guitar) gets a great “look-in” around 6:15
minutes and shows how good a guitarist he is. Back into the heavy riffing and
that crystal clear voice of Amy which usher the track out, together with a
couple of false endings.

Countryside
birds chirping, running water and a “music box” style melody heralds the start
of “Germander Speedwell” before a simply stunning acoustic guitar melody,
backed by a cello (?), carries the track on. The flute and synthesized strings
allow the track to build and then the flute picks out a memorable simple
melody. The rhythm engine of the band start to become more prominent as the
song gathers momentum around the 2:15 minute point. A stunning passage then
sees the flute and the piano to the fore with the synthesized strings building
in the background. The gentle flute and the acoustic guitar around the 4:00
minute mark usher back in the vocals and the bass/drums and synthesizers again
become a little more marked. The clarity of the vocals allows the lyrical
quality of the track to be easily appreciated. The acoustic guitar is
supplanted by the electrical variant of the instrument around 7:00 minute point
and plays out an excellent riff complemented by the keyboards and that very
tight-knit rhythm engine. Another keyboard passage fades back into the acoustic
guitar, flute and cello passage from earlier. Amy returns around 9:15 minutes
backed mainly by terrific bass and drums before that superb electric guitar
passage returns and, together with the rest of the band, had this reviewer
being reminded of early Focus in full flight, before the keyboards move the
song along and the levels start to build as the track nears completion. The
long building finale is a stunning end to a track that set out 14:30 minutes
before in a very gentle pastoral style.

I
have been aware of this band for a while and indeed, have played tracks from
earlier albums on the show, but I now have new material to put into playlists.
I’m running out of these “One To Buy” stickers such is the standard of many of
the CDs recently, but this deservedly falls into that category. An album that
has terrific examples of light and shade in the music with heavy riffs sitting
easily next to gentle flute/acoustic guitar passages and maintaining the
listener’s interest with sudden time changes. This is a great purchase for any
prog fan and one that will not disappoint in any way.